Lucky
by Maraeli
Summary: CH 2 posted 6.4.02
1. Medical Examinations

Lucky  
  
Disclaimer: All Pearl Harbor characters belong to Randall Wallace. I'm just borrowing for the sake of my story. Lyrics belong to Dido.  
  
AN: Ok, this is my second Pearl fic in two days. This one along with my Red/Betty one, Paradise will be updated frequently. This is a Rafe/Evelyn story, so enjoy! Just to clear some things up: 1) Rafe does go to England and 2) No Evelyn/Danny involvement. Don't forget to R&R!  
  
*~*  
  
"I won't leave…until you're resting here with me…"  
  
December 1940  
  
Evelyn Stewart impatiently sat at her desk, tapping her foot against the cool linoleum floor. She flipped through the stacks of paper on her desk as recruit after recruit made their way to her for their eye examination.  
  
"Eye exam number four!" she shouted out as she stamped the previous man's file.  
  
Rafe McCawley and Daniel Walker made their way over to the station.  
  
"I'm gonna fail, they're gonna take my wings away," Rafe mumbled as he approached Evelyn.  
  
"No they're not," Danny replied as he stood behind Rafe.  
  
"Next!" Evelyn shouted as Rafe sauntered over to her.  
  
"Just keep practicing the bottom line, and don't worry, I'm right behind you," Danny said calmly as Rafe recited the lines.  
  
"JLMPKO, JLMPKO," he mumbled until Evelyn motioned for his chart.  
  
"Ma'am," he nodded as he read the lines. "JLMPKOETX! Eyes like an eagle, ma'am!" Rafe shouted.  
  
"Not so fast, flyboy, and instead of the very bottom, read the very top, both eyes," Evelyn said as she continued shuffling her paperwork.  
  
Rafe gulped. "Yea…C- sorry J…um C…W…uh W…Q," he trailed off.  
  
Evelyn looked up and smiled out of pity. "Read the bottom line again please, but read it right to left and every other letter," she said as she watched him carefully.  
  
"E-X…um…X-E! Ma'am I know how this looks," Rafe said as he stared at her cautiously.  
  
"I'm sorry Lieutenant, I really am, but Army and Navy requires 20/20 vision," she stated as she moved to stamp his chart.  
  
"It's not a problem with my eyes, I mean I can see. It's just letters, I get them mixed up sometimes, that's all," Rafe replied.  
  
Evelyn folded her arms impatiently. "Well maybe after some schooling, you can come back and take the test again," she said as she grabbed her stamp.  
  
"No, I had schooling…the teachers, they just didn't know what to make of it. Ma'am, please don't take my wings," he said as he gently grabbed her wrist.  
  
"Evelyn rotate to Station 3," a plump, middle-aged nurse called to her over the partition.  
  
Evelyn sighed and reached for his file. She stamped "Pass" on his folder, handed it back to him and gathered her things as she walked away, leaving him dumbfounded.  
  
*~*  
  
Evelyn placed her things on the desk of her new station and started preparing the shots that would be given to the recruits. As she finished with the shots, Rafe entered her station. She glanced up and shook her head.  
  
"I never got a chance to thank you for what you did," he said.  
  
"Drop your skivvies," Evelyn replied as she cut him off.  
  
"Like this?" he questioned.  
  
Evelyn rolled her eyes as she prepped him for the shot. "That's fine," she said.  
  
He continued to mumble on, and she abruptly cut him off again.  
  
"You know, you still haven't said thank you," she said matter-of-factly.  
  
He blushed. "Thank you," he said as he smiled.  
  
"You're welcome," she said as she gave him the shot. He winced, and she giggled.  
  
"Gosh, did I poke too deep?" she questioned.  
  
"I think you hit the bone there," he said as his eyes watered.  
  
"Next!" Evelyn shouted as Rafe stood up to leave.  
  
"Miss, I really, really, lick you," he said as his hand flew up to his mouth.  
  
Evelyn stared at him, frozen in place.  
  
"I mean like you. I didn't mean to say that," Rafe said as he apologized.  
  
"I just wanted to know if I could maybe donate dinner…I mean buy you dinner," he said as he almost knocked over the IV stand.  
  
Evelyn looked at him as she glanced at his chart.  
  
"This isn't your chart…have you had this shot already?" she questioned sternly.  
  
He shrugged. "Yea, I think once, maybe," he said as he tried to steady himself.  
  
"Can I ask you out?" he questioned as he swayed in position.  
  
"No!" Evelyn answered as she stared at him, shocked.  
  
"All right then," he mumbled as he fell and smacked his head on the supply cart.  
  
"Oh! Evelyn, what'd you do to him?" Barbara giggled.  
  
*~*  
  
Later that night, Evelyn was leaving the medical center with the nurses as they were headed back to the hotel. They had just received word that they were going to be shipped out to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The nurses' all chattered excitedly as the made their way down the stone steps.  
  
"Hey!" Rafe shouted as he ran up to meet Evelyn. The other nurses took this as their cue to leave, and left Evelyn, giggling in the process.  
  
"Oh my gosh, are you ok?" Evelyn questioned as she noticed Rafe's nose.  
  
"Oh, yea I feel great. It's just a standard precautionary thing," he said as she laughed.  
  
"I have some champagne, imported from France, do you wanna join me?" Rafe asked in his southern drawl.  
  
"Sure, why not," Evelyn replied as she sat down on the steps. Rafe took out two glasses and tried to get the cork off of the bottle. All of a sudden, the cork popped out and hit him right smack in the nose. He winced and continued to pour the champagne into the glasses.  
  
"Cork just got away from me," he said as she laughed. He stopped and grabbed his noise as he placed the bottle down.  
  
"God, it hurts, oh it hurts something fierce," he laughed as she helped him.  
  
"Oh gosh, you're bleeding, here lie back," Evelyn said as she picked up some snow and placed it on his nose.  
  
"Ow, it's cold, I can't breathe," he yelled as she held the snow in place.  
  
"Lie still," she told him as she smiled.  
  
"You're so beautiful it hurts," he said as she giggled.  
  
"It's your nose that hurts," she replied as she lifted the snow from his nose.  
  
"No, I think it's my heart," he said as he moved his head towards her.  
  
She bent down to kiss him, and in that moment, the whole world just stopped. From then on, she knew that Rafe was the special one in her life, and nothing could ever take that away from her. 


	2. Farewell

Lucky  
  
AN: Wow, thanks for the lovely review *DaNa*! I'm glad you like my story so much. Okay, hope you all like my what I have so far. Don't forget to R&R. Lyrics belong to the awesome Dido.  
  
  
  
Chapter 2: Farewell  
  
*~*  
  
January 1941- one month later  
  
As the train pulled into the station, Evelyn made her way to the door, anxious to see Rafe again. As she walked onto the platform followed by the nurses, she smiled once she saw him, leading a band of his pilot friends. She walked toward him and smiled as he took of his hat.  
  
"Hello Lieutenant, it's good to see you," he said with a smirk on his face.  
  
"You too Lieutenant," Evelyn smiled as stared into his eyes.  
  
"Pick a hand," Rafe said as he held out his hands to her.  
  
She thought about it for a moment and gently opened his right hand. She smiled when he held up a beautiful origami swan.  
  
"It's beautiful, what's in your other hand?" she asked as she motioned towards his arm.  
  
"Mine," Rafe said as he gave the other one to her. "Well it took me six hours to fold these," he laughed as she giggled.  
  
Rafe suddenly picked Evelyn up and twirled her around as he hugged her. She laughed as he set her back on the ground. Evelyn then introduced him to her friends, and they all headed to the nightclub.  
  
*~*  
  
The gang of pilots and nurses were all chattering and laughing around the booth that they were settled in as swarms of people danced to swing music around them.  
  
"Care to dance?" Rafe whispered in Evelyn's ear as she listened in to the conversations.  
  
"I'd love to," she said as she took his hand and walked over to the dance floor.  
  
They swayed to the music for a bit, talking about this and that.  
  
"Danny seems kind of shy with the girls," Evelyn noticed over Rafe's shoulder.  
  
"It's not that he's shy, it's just that he's unsure of himself…He's like my brother, my best friend, my right hand," Rafe trailed of as they continued to dance.  
  
"Which at the moment is a long way south of my waist," Evelyn whispered against him.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, I guess I lost a bit of altitude," he replied as he inched closer to her.  
  
"Yea, I guess you did," she said as she glanced into his eyes. Evelyn rested her head against his shoulder as the music played on.  
  
"So the rumor is the Navy's shipping us off to Pearl Harbor," Evelyn stated.  
  
"It won't be so bad, it's about as far from the fighting as you can get…you'll get a suntan," Rafe laughed as Evelyn smiled.  
  
"Maybe the Army will post you guys there too," Evelyn said as she smiled.  
  
As the song ended, Rafe grabbed Evelyn's hand.  
  
"How about we get out of her?" he asked her as she nodded.  
  
"And go where?" she questioned mysteriously. Rafe thought about this for a moment and tugged her towards the door.  
  
"Well…how does New York Harbor by moonlight sound?" Rafe replied as they exited the club.  
  
*~*  
  
As the made their way towards the Queen Mary, Evelyn leaned back against Rafe and snuggled up against him.  
  
"I'd like to take a trip on a boat like that," she said as he smiled.  
  
"Would you?" he questioned as he stopped the speedboat. He helped her out of the boat and onto the lift that was used to load items onto the decks.  
  
"You're out of your mind, you know that?" Evelyn giggled as she steadied herself next to him.  
  
"Really?" he laughed as the sat down and set the lever to raise the lift up.  
  
"This is as close as I could get you to your ship," he said as he stopped the lever.  
  
"God you're pretty," Rafe said as he leaned in to kiss her.  
  
"What's going to happen to us all Rafe?" Evelyn questioned as she snuggled into his arms.  
  
"I don't know, but I do know that I'll have you right by my side," he said as she giggled.  
  
"Perfect," Evelyn replied.  
  
As Rafe bent down to kiss her, he accidently smacked the lever with his elbow, sending the lift straight down back into the harbor.  
  
"Oh my god! Are you ok?" Rafe asked, shocked.  
  
"Yeah, are you?" Evelyn asked him as she laughed.  
  
"That was not part of the date," Rafe laughed.  
  
*~*  
  
Rafe and Evelyn exited the cab and made their way to the lobby of the hotel, hand in hand.  
  
"Evelyn! Guys come up! We're in 321!" Barbara shouted as she went back to kissing Billy. Evelyn giggled as Rafe pulled her aside.  
  
"There's something I gotta tell you," he said seriously as she laughed.  
  
"Well you've got no secrets from me Lieutenant, I've seen your medical charts," she replied as they stood by the revolving doors.  
  
Evelyn's expression moved from playful to serious once she saw how hard of a time Rafe was having telling her what he had to say.  
  
"This can't be good, or it wouldn't be so hard to say," she said calmly as she studied his face.  
  
"Yup…I got to go away," Rafe said as he awaited her reaction.  
  
"We're all going away," Evelyn replied as she smiled.  
  
"Yea…but I'm going to war, tomorrow. I'm flying with the Eagle Squadron…where American pilots fight for the British," he said as Evelyn looked up, shocked.  
  
"I don't understand. You're in the US Army, how could they order you to go?" Evelyn questioned, obviously upset.  
  
"They didn't order me. I volunteered," Rafe sighed.  
  
"But I passed you, I let you through! And now you volunteer for the most dangerous place you could go?" Evelyn replied angrily.  
  
"Everything in my life has led me to this. Meeting you. I love you," Rafe sighed as Evelyn looked towards the ground.  
  
"I love you so much," Rafe said as he hugged her to him. "Let's go inside," he said as he motioned towards the door. As the entered the lobby, he pulled her back outside.  
  
"I-I can't do this. I mean, I can, I want to, but it's not right," Rafe said as he ran a hand through his hair. "I just don't want to be like everyone else. I don't want you to have anything about tonight that you regret," he finished.  
  
"It's been one of the most incredible nights of my life and I don't want anything to ruin it," he said as he placed his arms around her.  
  
Oh, you couldn't ruin it. If I had one more night to live, I'd want to spend it with you," Evelyn said on the verge of tears.  
  
"See that's what I want to come home to…I want to know that the best part of my life is still ahead of me," Rafe said as he kissed her cheek.  
  
"Here, take this," Evelyn said as she placed her scarf around his neck.  
  
"Why? You think it looks good on me?" Rafe questioned her playfully. "I will come back," he said as he kissed her. Evelyn pulled away with tears running down her cheeks and walked through the revolving doors. She turned back around saw him wave to her. She waved back sadly and turned to go upstairs to her hotel room  
  
*~*  
  
Evelyn entered the hotel room as silent tears cascaded down her cheeks. She flopped down on her bed and curled into a ball as she closed her eyes and thought of Rafe.  
  
*My lover's gone…his boots no longer by my door*  
  
*He left at dawn…and as I slept I felt him go*  
  
*My lover's gone…I know that kiss will be my last*  
  
*No more his song…the tune upon his lips has passed*  
  
*…bring him home again…bring him home again*  
  
Evelyn sighed as she rolled over and turned the light off. She closed her eyes and eventually fell into a restless sleep.  
  
  
  
  
  
AN: Lyrics belong to Dido. 


End file.
